Refined Luxury at London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Mention the Maldives and images of pristine turquoise blue waters come to mind. Overwater bungalows with direct jump-in access to the water and romantic sunsets are commonplace in this island paradise.
While it’s on almost everyone’s wish list, getting there can be a challenge. Flights are often ridiculously expensive and once you DO get to the islands, a barrage of expensive hotels with overpriced meals await. Never mind the flight distance involved, those expensive factors are enough to turn some people off and have them looking for cheaper destinations.
Getting to paradise and back doesn’t have to cost a fortune. We booked a ridiculous, normally unattainable luxury vacation valued at almost $46,000 for a grand total of $1,818… for two people!
Considering that’s usually the price of a regular coach class ticket to the Maldives, that’s one heck of a steal.
In the series of posts to follow, we’re going to walk you through all the experiences that we enjoyed on this trip. While most people would consider this once-in-a-lifetime, with just a little legwork and dedication you can have a luxury getaway to make Instagram followers drool with envy.
- Part 1 – Introduction and Planning
- Part 2 – Flights to London and Hamilton
- Part 3 – Refined Luxury London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
- Part 4a – The House Lounge, London Heathrow
- Part 4b – Etihad First Class Apartment LHR-AUH
- Part 4c – Etihad First Class Lounge, Abu Dhabi
- Part 4d – A340 Etihad to Male, Flight Review
- Part 5 – A day in the life of Male, Capital City
- Part 6 – St Regis Airport Lounge
- Part 6b – Trans Maldivian Seaplane Ride
- Part 7 – The St Regis Hotel Arrival Experience
- Part 8 – Overwater Villa, $3000/night for FREE
- Part 9 – Things to do at the St Regis Maldives
- Part 10 – Free Breakfast at the St Regis Maldives
- Part 11 – How to not go broke eating in the Maldives
- Part 12 – Snorkeling at the St Regis Maldives
- Part 13 – Male Airport VIP experience
- Part 14 – Emirates First Class Male to Dubai
- Part 15 – Dubai Transit Hotel – Amazing Value
- Part 16 – Emirates First Class Dubai to Los Angeles
- Part 17 – Conclusion and Giveaway
St Pancras Renaissance HotelSt Pancras Hotel, London
This trip to London marks our 7th stay at this landmark in Northern London. Situated directly on top of the St Pancras Rail Station, it serves as the hotel for Eurostar passengers heading to mainland Europe.
Room and Booking
You can easily book a night at the St Pancras for only 50,000 Marriott points (17k SPG points in a previous life). If you’ve got Suite night awards, this hotel does accept then for upgrade, and boy oh boy are they worth it.
Upgrading to a suite in this hotel comes with its extra benefits. Suites have access to the Chambers Club, an exclusive section of the hotel that comes with free breakfast, evening canapés and a relaxed retreat from the hustle and bustle of London.
Chambers Club St PancrasSuite Upgrade
We were given an upgrade to a corner suite on the 1st floor of the hotel. Now tell me, when have you ever seen a room THIS large in London?
Upon entry the hallway leading to the room is on your right.
St Pancras Grand Junior SuiteThere’s a closet and seating area to prepare for getting ready for the day.
On the other side of this mini wall is the bed. They come with gorgeous bottles of water on each nightstand and some eye shades in case you’d like to sleep a little deeper.
To the left hand side of the room is a non-working fireplace and enormous gorgeous mirror.
The seating area includes a chaise lounge, huge sofa, chair, and off to the side, a working desk with AV hookups for the TV in the room.
Look at how huge this room is!
The window on one side of the suite overlooks the booking office. While there was a ton of hustle and bustle you couldn’t head a sound from the room.
From the other side of the room you look over the Eurostar station.
We always make friends with the concierge wherever we go, and since we’d been in touch previously with this staff, they knew all about our trip and Hamilton show. They ALSO know that we love their rubber ducks. To our shock was a cherry filled chocolate duck with a welcome message. Talk about taking it to the next level…
The Gilbert Scott
The Gilbert Scott restaurant is a Marcus Wareing restaurant located in the restaurant. I was surprised to see the prices on the menu were not as horrible as I had expected them to be. Reservations can be hard to come by, but if you message the hotel with any sort of advanced notice, you’ll have no problem getting in.
Gilbert ScottI went with the soup and Ben went with the lamb cutlet and faggot. Yea, somethings just get lost in translation I suppose for our American sensibilities…
Faggot?!
Gorgeous and tasty dinnerThe Booking Office
Remember we said we could oversee the Booking Office from the room? Tempted by how fun it looked, we headed downstairs.
We’ve reviewed them before (and its worth a read) but this time we decided just to go for a couple nightcaps.
My drink had a crossaint sticking out of it. A literal croissant. Ben’s drink had two scoops of sherbet. They take these drinks and elevate it to the next level.
Booking Office DrinksHead here for a great end to your night or even a post theatre nosh.
Booking Office DrinksSince we had to be up early in the morning to head to Heathrow, this is where we decided to retire and get some sleep.
March 15, 2019
I love the St Pancras Renaissance. Stayed a few times (including the night before I flew to the US for my honeymoon) and have always had excellent stays.
FYI, faggots – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)
Chris
March 16, 2019
First time I’ll approve a comment with the word faggots 🙂
September 22, 2019
Stayed recently on a layover, on a tip from a co-worker — we were contacted by email ahead of our stay and they were super-helpful. Concierge and staff as well. We also got a special welcome, as my wife was on her way to compete in the Ironman 70.3 Worlds.
After leaving, we were disappointed to learn that one is meant to take the rubber duck — but a note to guest relations and they are sending us one!
Fabulous experience.
September 22, 2019
Yea! They have their own Instagram @WhereTheDuck 🙂 I love following their adventures.